Berea: New Browns owner takes in practice

BEREA -- Tennessee businessman, Jimmy Haslam III, is in Berea getting his first look at his new team.

Wearing shorts and a T-shirt, he attended his first practice session in Berea to take a look at the team he has purchased. All parties have said keeping the Browns in Cleveland was part of the negotiations.

Haslam had dinner last night with Browns President Mike Holmgren. Holmgren appeared with Haslam at the Browns practice this morning along with General Manager Tom Heckert.

Haslam completed a deal worth more than $1 billion to buy the Browns from Randy Lerner in a two-part sale. The deal calls for an initial payment of $700 million that gives Haslam a 70-percent stake in the team. A payment of $300 million at a later date would complete the transaction.

The deal must still be approved by the NFL ownership but that is expected to be just a formality.

Randy Lerner inherited the Browns from his father, Al Lerner, upon his death in 2002. The elder Lerner purchased the expansion Browns franchise for $530 million in 1998.